The coming season is a hugely important one for Beth Morrow given her recent personal travails, but more importantly, it is a turning point in Scottish cycling history.
Team Alba Road will embark on their first race of the 2024 season today and their presence as the first Scottish women’s professional continental team could not be more notable.
Scotland has not had a top-flight women’s cycling team for a long time, but with Alba’s step towards becoming a professional continental team this season, women’s cycling in this country is taking a significant step forward.
Morrow has no doubt about the importance of a Scottish women’s team competing at this level for the first time and it was this that played a vital role in her decision to move to Alba, led by sporting director Bob Lyons. He spent last season with British-based DAS-Handsling.
“It’s great for Scotland to have a team of this level and the fact that it’s a continental team was a big factor in me joining. I knew I couldn’t miss it because it’s literally a part of Scottish cycling history,” the 21-year-old said. -says old Morrow.
“I’m so proud to be Scottish so to be part of this team is incredible.
“When I talked to Bob (Lyons) and he told me what he wanted for the team, it matched my feelings, so it was a great fit.
“When you race for a continental team you get so many opportunities to be part of the big races that you don’t get into the UK, so it’s very important.”
It’s important that Morrow is racing this season, given the difficulties the Edinburgh rider faced for more than half of last year.
An accident in late 2022 left Morrow with a bad concussion, and despite his initial optimism that he would be back to normal within a few weeks, the side effects lasted much longer than he could have imagined.
Morrow’s symptoms lasted so long that he managed just three races last season, and he admits his long battle to regain health was one of the toughest periods of his career.
“I had an accident in September 2022. I hit my head very badly and instantly knew it was not okay,” he says.
“But little did I know how bad it would be and how long-lasting the concussions could be. All in all, it affected me for seven months.
“It was so up and down, there were times when my symptoms would ease, but then they got so much worse again, so it was hard. Exercising, socializing, being on screens, studying and being around people made it worse, so it was hard to do anything I really enjoy.”
“There were moments when I wondered if I would ever fully recover, but I didn’t dwell on it too much, you can’t.
“Then I slowly started to get better and now I feel really good.”
Morrow will be part of the Alba team that will race at the CiCle Classic in Leicestershire today, kicking off a racing program that will see the team compete regularly in both the UK and Europe.
Morrow, one of the most experienced drivers of the 10-man Alba squad and appointed as team captain, knows that his teammates trust him for leadership this season.
It’s a pressure Morrow knows all too well, but he’s also reluctant to set concrete goals for himself and the team, given the new ground they’ll be treading on.
“I have a very different presence in this team compared to my previous teams,” says Morrow, who combines his cycling career with a degree in urban planning from Loughborough University.
“I’m one of the more experienced drivers and there’s a lot more pressure on me than I’ve had before, it’s a big change but a very exciting one.
“Hopefully I can rise to the challenge and use this pressure in a positive way.
“I don’t have specific targets in terms of positions in races because I don’t think setting such targets helps me. Personally, I just want to race hard and see where it takes me.
“And as a team we want to show that we are a team to be reckoned with. We hope to get some podiums, but above all we want to use this first season to really make a mark.”
Morrow may have ambitions for himself and his team, but he also knows Alba will make a wider impact this season.
The existence of the Alba Road Team is an inspiration to aspiring young female riders in this country, and Alba’s riders are living proof that there is no automatic way to succeed as a first-time female road racer in this country. We need to go south or to Europe.
According to Morrow, this is a huge thing for sports in this country.
“When I was a young rider there were hardly any Scottish women’s teams and certainly not at this level,” she says.
“So it’s huge for young Scottish girls to see this opportunity; young riders can now see that there is a real path for them to progress. “I never had that at a young age, so it’s amazing how incredibly young female riders in Scotland are doing it now.”